Posted on 03/30/2016 2:50:43 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump quickly walked back a statement he made earlier Wednesday that if abortion were illegal in the United States, then women who have the procedure should be punished - saying later that only those who performed the procedure should be punished.
“If Congress were to pass legislation making abortion illegal and the federal courts upheld this legislation, or any state were permitted to ban abortion under state and federal law, the doctor or any other person performing this illegal act upon a woman would be held legally responsible, not the woman,” Trump said in a written statement. “The woman is a victim in this case as is the life in her womb.”
Earlier, at a taped MSNBC town hall to be aired later Wednesday, Trump said if abortions were illegal, women should be held responsible.
Host Chris Matthews pressed Trump to clarify, asking him whether abortion should be punished and who ultimately should be held accountable.
“Look, people in certain parts of the Republican Party, conservative Republicans, would say, ‘Yes, it should,’” Trump said.
The candidate later put out a statement saying: “This issue is unclear and should be put back into the states for determination.”
Trump’s comments come at a time when he’s losing traction with women voters.
When asked specifically at the town hall what he thought, the New York businessman answered, “I would say it’s a very serious problem and it’s a problem we have to decide on. Are you going to send them to jail?”
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I remember Conservative ideas being prevalent on FR. The mass turning towards Trump, seems incongruent with this.
Is there a .gif out there somewhere of Trump walking backward??
How can you have a ban with no penalty for breaking the ban?
Donald was right.
How can you have a ban with no penalty for breaking the ban?
Donald was right.
Gotcha question
He’s unlike all other is not a lawyer
FOLLOW THE LAW. is always the answer
Presidents don’t make the law
The execute as e executors
If Trump supporters would get constitutionally low-information Trump up to speed on the federal government’s constitutionally limited powers, then Trump would be able to say the following about punishment for women who have an abortion.
Since the states have never delegated to the feds, expressly via the Constitution, the specific power to make laws to regulate, tax and spend for abortion, the feds don’t have the constitutional authority to make laws which punish women for having an abortion.
In fact, I wonder how many people are in prison for breaking a federal law which the states have never delegated to the feds, expressly via the Constitution, the specific power to make?
And when that candidate immediately takes it back, and his supporters still stand by him, who's the dumb one?
Yeah. I mean if abortion is illegal of COURSE the woman should be criminally responsible also.
But that would play very very badly to the point I doubt many people would propose it.
I’m sure we’ll run across one soon enough. LOL
By tomorrow he’ll claim he never said that and his supporters will fall in line.
Mrs. Clinton or the Bern would never, ever be asked a question remotely similar to this. It’s a given that they’re 100% pro-abortion right up to the moment of birth, and nobody in the media bats an eye. Their pro-death position is simply accepted. But just whisper that you might be pro-life, and the interrogation squad comes out in full force.
An MSNBC ‘town hall’ with Chris Matthews is a hostile event for Republicans.
The game is rigged. Why did Trump even agree to participate?
I hear this a lot, and not only from Trump, i.e. "the woman who has the abortion is the victim, only the doctor should be punished," and I never understood the reasoning behind it. If you genuinely believe that abortion is the taking of a human life, that's the equivalent of saying "Only the hitman should go to prison, the person who hired him is as much the victim as the person who was murdered."
Sorry, I don’t think there was any error. If abortions are illegal and woman, who isn’t coerced or forced, willingly and knowingly gets an abortion she is committing a crime and should be punished for it.
It isn’t just FR. The large chunk of the pro-life movement seems to be upset about this.
By now their brains have to scrambled from whiplash.
RE: Is there NOTHING they won’t forgive??
What Trump said before says it all.
“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters”
That is so STUPID!!! Blindered pack mule stupid. Yappy purse dog stupid.
The baby is the victim.
Both should be held responsible. Without the woman getting pregnant, the doctor would commit no murder. Without the doctor to do the abortion, the woman would bring her baby into the world instead of murdering it. There is no longer any responsibility for someones actions, it is always somebody elses fault and a need for somebody to “fix it.”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.